"Free Sherman Austin" - article in SF BayView

Free Sherman Austin!
http://www.sfbayview.com/030304/freesherman030304.shtml
And then they came for me: Patriot Act shifts its focus from Arabs to Blacks

by Lloyd Williams

“First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I said nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats, but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then came the trade unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. And then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did little. Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.” - Pastor Martin Niemöller on moral failure in the face of fascism

Though only a teenager, Sherman Austin was still quite capable of communicating his politically progressive ideas. After all, he was raised in Los Angeles by his mother, Jennifer, to feel free to speak his mind about any issues of the day.

So, this Internet-savvy young Black boy set up his own website named http://www.RaiseTheFist.com where he - and others - railed regularly against enemies of the African-American community in articles on police brutality, racism, globalization, imperialism, the U.S. government’s hidden agenda and so forth.

As an anarchist, Sherman opposed “all forms of political, economic and social hierarchies.” And he condemned violence in any form, whether by “bin Laden or the USA.” But make no mistake about it, RaiseTheFist.com was a website where George Bush and his cronies were catching holy hell from an assortment of contributors for the war in Iraq and for other foreign and domestic policies.

In January 2002, about 25 heavily armed FBI agents raided the Austin home, ransacking it while interrogating the terrified teenager for over five hours. The FBI seized the whiz kid’s network of computers in order to take down his rabble-rousing website, accusing him of disseminating bomb-making information.

What they were referring to was a link on RaiseTheFist.com to a protest guide, which wasn’t even written by Sherman Austin, but by the son of wealthy, well-connected Republican from Orange County, Calif.

While this White kid’s link did contain some rudimentary info on explosives, he was never charged with breaking any laws. However, Sherman, a week after his computers, political literature and protest signs had been carted off, was arrested for the “distribution of information related to explosives over the Internet with intent.”

Denied bail by a federal judge after an FBI agent described him as a “man on a mission,” the youngster subsequently spent his days awaiting trial, wasting away in a maximum-security facility under 24-hour lockdown.

What chance does a poor Black boy being solely supported by a single mother without any assets have against a vindictive attorney general intent on making him the poster boy for how America now deals with political dissenters? Zero chance.

If Sherman had been rich enough to mount a decent defense, then the prosecutor - quite obviously - would never have been able to prove any intent on his part to blow up anything.

Sadly, the badly intimidated pacifist anarchist agreed to a plea bargain in reaction to a threatened enhancement of the charges against him to “terrorism,” which could have added another 20 years to his sentence. In open court, the judge then shocked everybody by ignoring the plea deal that had been worked out, and by tripling Austin’s sentence and throwing away the key.

How could this country contemplate such harsh treatment of a defendant with no prior history of violence in a case based on such flimsy evidence? Especially when the court psychiatrist testified that he posed absolutely no threat to anyone but rather was likely to be - himself - adversely affected by further incarceration due to his peaceful nature.

What has this society regressed to if the Patriot Act is being implemented in such patently partisan fashion to silence foes of the administration?

Raise your voice in opposition now before you’re the one being railroaded and frog-hopped in shackles to a stint inside a federal penitentiary for popping off about the president.

Free Sherman before there’s no one left to free you or me!

Donations for Sherman’s appeal can be sent directly to his mother: Jennifer Martin, 12115 Magnolia Blvd. #155, North Hollywood, CA 91607. Or email her at Jmi4678 [at] netscape.net.

Attorney Lloyd Williams is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court and the New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts bars. Email Lloyd at kam_williams [at] hotmail.com.